孔子天命观及其源流

Confucius's View of Destiny and Its Development

孔子的天命观主要有两层含义 ,一是原始宗教的天 ,来源于殷文化带有迷信色彩的天命观 ,但孔子从主体性角度进行了改造 ,强调畏天命 ,更强调知天命。二是作为道德源泉和依据的天 ,与周初统治者解释政权来源的民意论的天命观有关 ,但孔子对之作了由政治而伦理的转换。孔子而后 ,早期儒家的代表人物从不同方向对天命思想作了发展。孟子的天是充满道德理性和道德情感的天 ,他把仁义礼智等道德观念看成是天的属性 ,同时又看成是人的自然属性。荀子主张“制天命而用之” ,认为天命并不是某种神秘的形式 ,而是内在于自然中的必然趋势 ,人一旦掌握了它 ,便可以用以实现自己的目的。董仲舒对孔子天命观从神学目的论的角度作了发展 ,在孔、孟、荀的基础上 ,系统的对儒家伦理政治学说进行了本体论的建构 ,从封建的道德关系中抽象出天 ,将自然的天神秘化和伦理化 ,主观地构架起由天到人的桥梁 ,赋予封建伦理纲常以神圣性和至上性 ,使儒家理想具备了制度安排的可能。

Confucius' view of destiny mainly includes two implications. One is the heaven in the primeval cults, which is a superstitious view of destiny stemmed from Yin Civilization. Yet the Confucius regenerates it from a perceiver's view. He emphasizes awareness of the destiny as well as the dread of it. The other is the heaven as the source and base of morality, which is related to potentates' explanations of the source of their regimes in the early Zhou Dynasty. But the Confucius makes it over from politics to ethics. After the Confucius, primeval leading exponents of Confucianism develop the view of destiny from different aspects. Mencius thinks of destiny as moral rations and ethical feelings. He regards benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom as the destiny's attributes and people's natural attributes. Master Xun claims 'to conquer the destiny and to use it'. He thinks that destiny is not the form of a certain mystery but an infallible and immanent trend in the nature. People can achieve their own goals once they master the destiny. Dong Zhongshu further develops the Confucius' view of destiny from the aspect of theological teleology. On the basis of theories of Confucius, Mencius and Master Xun, he makes an ontological construction of the Confucian ethical politics systematically. He abstracts the heaven from feudalist moral relationship, and makes it mysterious and ethical. By subjectively building a bridge from the heaven to people and giving inviolability and supreme to feudal ethical principles, he makes the Confucianist ideas possible to arrange regimentations.